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76 Doing Business in Connecticut | 2015 Small Business INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT › By David Ryan Polgar E veryone gets hiccups. Most people, though, don't create a business around them. Mallory Kievman isn't like most people. Aer suffering regular bouts of hiccups during the summer of 7th grade, the young entrepreneur decided there had to be a solu- tion. Hiccups, despite their reputation for being somewhat trivial, can actually be quite painful for a segment of the population. Hiccups are also an occasional side effect to medical treatments such as chemotherapy. Aer countless hours of experimenta- tion, Kievman found the right combina- tion in apple cider vinegar, sugar, and the process of sucking a lollipop. e end result was Hiccupop. Hiccupops, now nearing commercial- ization, are produced at a facility in Texas. Under the guidance of Connecticut Inven- tion Convention, the largest program of its kind in the country, the young Manchester resident has gained worldwide recognition, appeared in the New York Times and Inc. magazine, and rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. On March 23rd, she was invited to the White House as part of its annual Science Fair. Helen Charov is the executive director of the Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC), an award-winning, internationally recognized nonprofit started in 1983 by a Farmington teacher. e program, open to K-8 students from across the state, helps children to develop, produce and even com- mercialize their inventions. Each year, about 10,000 students from more than 130 Con- necticut schools take part in the program, with the 700 best inventors pitching their ideas to more than 300 judges at UConn's Gampel Pavillion in May. e mission of CIC is to instill a creative spirit in children that will be carried on for the rest of their lives. For many of the participants, that experience leads to launching a business to sell their invention. "CIC is helping an inventor get to the next step," said Charov. at next step may include the patent process, licensing, or manufacturing the product. As the cliché goes, if you want to find a business, find a problem. According to Charov, the unique program teaches chil- dren "how to identify problems and unique solutions." She added, "We believe that the creative process can be taught." e program, which approaches entrepreneurship from a STEM angle, allows participants to "blue sky the problem," said Charov. In the past 32 years, an estimated 300,000 children have taken part. Junior Achievement (JA) is another popular program that promotes youth entre- Kid Biz Child entrepreneurs are a fountain of great ideas Mallory Kievman invented Hiccupops, which are now being commercialized. PHOTO|CONNECTICUT INVENTION CONVENTION Total Number of... Number of Firms Small businesses 331,386 Small businesses with employees 69,464 Small businesses w/o employees 261,922 Source: Small Business Administra on, Office of Advocacy CT Employment by Size of Firm Percentage of Firms 1-19 18% 20-29 17% 100-499 15% 500+ 51% Source: SUSB